With a wave of seniors returning to the program this spring and younger stars emerging seemingly each day, the Tigers are quickly regaining the luster of the program that won three-straight regional titles earlier this decade.

The latest impressive performance in that return to prominence came Tuesday, a 2-0 win for the Tigers (10-2-1, 4-0-0 in the Southwest Prairie Conference) over Minooka (7-5-0, 4-1) in a key league showdown.

Even with another huge title chase match imminent Tuesday at Plainfield South (5-0-0 in the SPC), the Tigers could savor this win.

“We lost last year (to Minooka), and it was a big loss to us, so I think we really wanted to come back and make sure we won this time,” said Plainfield North junior Molly Grant. “We came together and did that, and just worked really hard.”

Grant’s hard work produced the corner kick that set up the Tigers’ first goal, and she later scored herself en route to earning Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.

But among many stars in the win, the most interesting and maybe unlikely may have been Tigers sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Clark.

“Our defense did a phenomenal job today,” Plainfield North midfielder Renae Blevins said, “and our goalie did an amazing job. Our starting goalie (Antonia Madonia) is injured right now with a concussion. She (Clark) is actually our backup, and she did a phenomenal job.”

Clark’s ability to step in and shut out a top opponent impressed Tigers coach Steve Berry.

“We got notification today that our goalkeeper (Medonia) has a concussion, and Ashley stepped up,” Berry said. “She’s been training with us all year, and she knows what needs to be done.

“It was a great job on short notice. And Morgan Budds (another varsity goalkeeper) will step up and do a nice job too when she gets her chance.”

Berry, the boys' team coach, took over as head coach this season, following a successful run for previous mentor Jane Crowe that included three-straight regional titles.

And Berry has been far from the only new arrival.

Senior Abby Gustafson’s header off a Blevins corner kick 15 minutes in put the Tigers ahead for good 1-0. Back on varsity after focusing on club for a season, Gustafson summed up what in she literally sees as the secret to Plainfield North’s success.

“We have 12 seniors, and not a lot of people knew that we were all coming back,” Gustafson said. “We all were like ‘Let’s do it.’

“I don’t even think a lot of people know that we have nine girls going to play in college. I think they only have Victoria (Thornton) listed, and there’s a ton of us.”

The Lewis-bound Gustafson and Blevins (playing next year at Division I Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis, aka IUPUI) are two of those, and were a winning duo on the first goal.

After another offensive tag team of Thornton and Grant generated an attack that produced a corner kick, the restart was textbook.

Blevins’ perfect send to the net found Gustafson in open space right in front, for an easy point-blank putaway header and 1-0 Tigers lead.

“We practice that play a lot,” Gustafson said. “I kind of run in from the six to the back post, and Renae is always looking for my head.

“She played a perfect ball, and I literally went like that (barely leaned forward), and it hit my head. I just knew I had to get some power on it, and into the back of the net it went.”

It was a near replay of Blevins’ perfect corner kick send to Thornton for a header goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wheaton North.

“That’s one of my strengths,” Blevins said. “I would say I’m pretty good at taking free kicks and corner kicks. I look for Abby and Victoria a lot, and they’re really good at getting their head on it.”

Defender Kaitlyn Mauder is also part of the list of future college players (heading to Illinois-Chicago) who returned to the Tigers’ fold this spring.

“Honestly I’m just so excited,” Mauder said of the Tigers’ strong play this season. “It’s kind of a newer team – a lot of us seniors didn’t play last year. And I think we’re all just really talented.”

Talented, and dedicated to reignite the program to even higher levels.

“I made the decision super last minute (to play this year), because my club doesn’t let me play high school,” said Blevins, who last played for the Tigers as a freshman in 2015. “But it’s senior year. I might as well play, and then go on to college.”

Gustafson and Mauder excelled for the Tigers as sophomores in 2016, before a one-year hiatus to focus on club.

“We’ve been in the program before,” Gustafson said. “So we knew we had a winning program, and we wanted to get that back.

“We did not want another loss to them (Minooka). We wanted to reclaim our conference championship and start a streak.”

Gustafson’s goal Tuesday was a great start. Then both goalies came up big the rest of the first half to keep the score 1-0.

First it was third-year Minooka standout keeper Bella Alessio, who also played a key role on her school’s Class 4A volleyball state runner-up squad last fall.

In the 24th minute, a Blevins corner kick set up another Gustafson point-blank header – only this time Alessio made a nice one-handed grab at the post of the 6-yard redirect.

Then 2:30 before halftime, it was Clark’s time to shine. A foul set up a 25-yard direct kick by Minooka’s Maddy Lant. But Clark was up to the task, making a nice high grab of Lant’s rising drive.

Clark began the second half with another poised play. With Minooka’s Maddie Morin in 1-v.-1 on Tigers defender Kylee Colwell, Clark came off her line to cover the loose ball and help repel a threat in the box.

Then with 30:25 left, a great pass to a proven finisher turned the tide entirely to Plainfield North’s favor.

Annmarie Krusiwiecz’s nice send up the middle sprung Grant in on a rush. Outrunning the defense, she also beat a charging Alessio to the loose ball and rolled a shot inside the open left post to make it 2-0.

“That was a really good pass from Annmarie,” Grant said. “She looked up, and I’m usually offside, but I wasn’t on that one. So I just tried to dribble in and score.”

From there, it was all up to the Plainfield North defense.

Clark again did her part with 27:45 to go. A 50-yard Minooka free kick pinballed around the box, eventually reaching forward Brooke Brodzinski for an open 18-yarder up top.

But Clark made a diving catch to her left, keeping her shutout secure.

Clark then capped her breakout day with saves on a 10-yard Mia Alessio header flick (off a Meredith Conant cross with 11:30 left) and Lant (a catch of a low 25-yard shot with 5:50 to go).

Another Minooka threat denied came on a 25-yard free kick with 20:05 left, which Makenna Woodill blocked and Thornton cleared upfield.

Meanwhile, the Plainfield North offense didn’t sit on the 2-0 lead.

With 5:35 left, Grant ran down another long send and nearly duplicated her effort on the goal.

Tipping the loose ball away from goalkeeper Alessio to open space right of the net, Grant lined a tough angle shot off the side of the net with Minooka defender Macie Alexa in fast pursuit.

Showing the Tigers’ depth, Clark wasn’t the only sophomore stepping up defensively Tuesday.

With the 2-0 win in the books, Berry noted another new hero in his postgame analysis.

“Payton Strausberger stepped in and did really good in the middle of the field, playing alongside Abby Gustafson,” Berry said. “She did a really good job.

“Victoria always (stands out) as well, and Molly and Allie (Kroll) up-front do a good job. And it’s not always them scoring goals but the amount of pressure they put on and the physicality they can put on opponents’ backs. Overall those people stood out.”

The win was the Tigers’ fourth in a row, three by shutout.

“For the last couple of games we’ve been winning and scoring,” Grant said. “And our mids have been possessing the middle of the game. Our coach says if we win the middle, we win games. And that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Co-captain Gustafson thinks the best is yet to come.

“We’re still trying to find ourselves,” she said. “We were struggling a little bit at the beginning of the season. We finally found a formation that seems to work for us, and that’s helping a lot. Now we’re on a winning streak, and we’re going to keep that going.”

Berry downplayed any emphasis on the Minooka match – especially with Plainfield South and other big challengers around the corner.

“It’s not like we’ve targeted any team,” he said. “We’ll play whomever, and we just want every single game to get better no matter who it is. That’s 4-0 in the conference for us, and our goal is to win the conference. So we go on to the next conference game Thursday (against Joliet Central).”

But the special significance of Tuesday’s win to the conference race and Tigers’ confidence was clear.

“Obviously with them beating us last year the girls wanted to give a good effort,” Berry said.

“Minooka played hard and pushed us in different ways. This game presented different problems for us, and our kids responded and handled some adversity with calls that were questionable (two second half yellow cards). They did well.”